Seijun Suzuki has been known for his over-the-top stylistic approach to gangster and yakuza films, most famously with his cult classics Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967). His style, developed over the years of his lengthy career, truly came to a head with Zigeunerweisen, an adaptation of Hyakkei Uchida’s novel Disk of Sarasate. While the film is still overshadowed by…

It is challenging to provide a summary for Queer Fish Lane. It is introduced as a work about travelling “chain-play” performers, Tarugani and Papajo, whose art is a fusion of film and theater. Later, it is revealed that both of them got involved in an incident when Tarugani accidentally took home a chemical aphrodisiac named Tottoro…

Initially, one of the challenges that Neko Atsume House seems to face is how to make a movie from a video game that does not have much goal or narrative. The game from which it is dervived mostly concerns the literal translation of its title – the collection of cats. The game itself has no context. Like…

One night, in the peaceful town of Matangtubig, Batangas, local fisherman Homil Ricarte (Amante Pulido) witnessed a scene at the bridge: two teenage female students were offered an escort home by a group of men. The students refused, but the men insisted. The students agreed in the end. What Homil witnessed has become the first…

Saving Sally is one of the most ambitious attempts at commercial filmmaking from the Philippines to date, and probably one of the best in terms of this level of popular ambition. It follows Marty (Enzo Marcos), an aspiring comic book artist who can see monsters materialising in people he perceives negatively, but never really bothered with…

We the Workers provides an intimate look at the life and work of a labor organizer in time of crisis. At the center of the film are the staff members of the Haige Labour Center in south China who handle labour cases and assist workers in organizing and bargaining with their employers. Wen Hai’s documentary, which…

She’s the Boss is Vietnam’s take on the Thai hit, ATM Er Rak Error (2012), which places romance in conflict with various security issues. Subject to the “no fraternization” policy of the bank where they are both employed, office manager Oanh (Miu Le) and junior employee Cuong (Ɖo An) are keeping their relationship secret so as not to…

Sunday Beauty Queen features stories of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in Hong Kong who gather on their weekly day-off, Sunday, and organize beauty contests as a fund-raising activity for an organization, the Bethune House, which supports the welfare of Filipino Migrant Workers. Captured with cinema verité technique, the lens of filmmaker Baby Ruth Villarama-Gutierrez takes an intimate look…